Mr. and Meatless

Uuber-Goobers, Stephanie and Jim

My name is Stephanie, and I'm a 28 year old (mostly) vegetarian. My new husband, on the other hand, could eat meat for every meal every day of every week. Needless to say, it makes preparing meals a bit of a challenge, but a challenge I accept wholeheartedly and plan to share here along with other challenges of the recently wed.

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End of Summer Stuffed Squash

I didn’t have a garden this year. Our 983 square foot apartment’s tiny little deck had room for little more than a few tomato plants, which we gathered precisely ZERO tomatoes from. I think it was because there wasn’t enough sun on that side of the building. I grew the crap out of some tomatoes on the deck of my old apartment…which happened to face the opposite direction. Anywhoo, just because I didn’t have a garden of my own doesn’t mean I didn’t have plenty of fresh homegrown vegetables from the garden’s of various other people in my life. And as of last night I had 3 different kinds of squash, a couple of sweet peppers, a small tomato, an onion and several garlic bulbs left. Not wanting any of it to go to waste, I decided to throw it all together in one delicious meal.

Please excuse the crap photo. I just didn’t have the energy to get the camera out last night. But you get the gist anyway.

End of Summer Stuffed Squash

Serves 2

1 largish squash (it doesn’t really matter what kind. I’m not even sure what kind mine was. It just came in a lovely bag from one of our employees)

1 small onion, chopped small

1 small tomato, chopped small

1-2 other small squashes, chopped small (I had two other small squashes. That’s why I added them. You can adjust based on what you’ve got)

1 small sweet pepper, you guessed it, chopped small

1 clove of garlic, chopped small

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup quinoa (cooked in two cups water, per the instructions on the box)

1 heaping spoon of greek yogurt (or sour cream if you wish)

1 handfulish parmesan or asiago cheese (or a mix, like I used), shredded

1 slice of bread (I used gluten free bread), broken up into pieces

1 sliver of butter

Seasonings to taste

Cooking Spray

Spray a cookie sheet with your cooking spray and set it aside. While you’re cooking your quinoa, broil your bread chunks until they start to darken and become “toasty.” Put bread chunks into your food processor (or your Ninja blender, if you weren’t so lucky as to get your food processor from your wedding registry) and make bread crumbs out of them (feel free to just use bread crumbs if you want. I like this way better because they’re a little coarser..and you know, all around tastier).

Cut your large zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the innards. Chop the innards a bit and add them to your other chopped squashes and your chopped peppers and garlic.

Put your olive oil in your frying pan and when it gets warm, add your onions. When they start to soften, add the other veggies (DO NOT add the tomatoes till the end of they’ll be gross and mushy) and whatever spices you’re going to use (I used Jim’s step dad’s magic spice mix, which I’m not exactly sure of all the contents, but I know salt, garlic, rosemary, parsley, I think?? That’s all I got for ya. Sorry. You can wing it). When your veggies start looking opaquish, add the cooked quinoa and let it fry away for a few mins. Meanwhile, melt the butter and mix it up with your bread crumbs. Add the tomatoes to the frying pan at the last minute, just to warm them up a bit.

Mix in the cheese. Then mix in the Greek yogurt. Place your squash halves onto your prepared cookie sheet and fill them as full as you can with the quinoa/veggie/cheese/yogurt mix. Top them with your buttered breadcrumbs and bake for about 20 minutes at 400ish. Your crumbs will be browned and your squash will be softish (try stabbing it with a fork).

Sooooo good.

I used the veggies I had in my fridge, and since I don’t eat meat, I didn’t add any. I’d imagine sausage would be good in this if you’re into that kind of thing. I also might try carrots, Jim suggested mashed potato instead of quinoa. You can probably stuff pretty much anything into a squash. Use your imagination…and whatever you’ve got on hand.

Speaking of the end of summer, is anyone else beyond excited for fall? I’m SOOO ready to bust out my sweaters and scarves and boots and drink steamy drinks and eat pumpkin everything. We even already put up our cute little fall door sign.

Isn’t he cute and welcoming?

What is your favorite part of fall? Are you as excited as I am for it’s true arrival?